92 Hen-e-ry the 8th I Am, I Am, Hen-e-ry the 8th I Am

Here we go again: I am risking life and limb from retribution by the lackeys at Homeland Security. Once again, I feel the need to give my points on the shambling, lurching mess that used to be a once-proud leader and example among the nations of the world.

America the Brave, America the Beautiful. America the gutless, indebted miser that thrums its long fingers, stroking piles of ill-gotten cash while paying evil minions to keep its bloated, falsified empire afloat. Sounds a little cynical, doesnt it? Well, I am. You should be. Corporate greed, politicians with misguided agendas or outright "for sale" signs on their foreheads...all this and more is what America has become. In the back of my mind, I envision a mish-mash jumble of buildings perched upon a festering plot of earth, all of which is held up by splintered, broken boards. All things good and solid should have a sturdy foundation, right? We used to.

What has become of us? Ideals we only see in 50's reruns and read in antique books are just that: antique. People here and there say they love their fellow man, but oh how little they show it. It's easy to stammer and spout about the poor Haiti survivors, the poor Chilean survivors, the poor, oppressed people in China, and on and on. What about the poor guy down the street trying to keep his family warm and fed? The place he worked at failed because the greedy corporation that owned it propped up its books with falsified numbers and data so that higher-ups could have UNGODLY bonuses and salaries. What about the mother who worries about something breaking down because she can only buy groceries and pay part of her bills this pay and if the furnace breaks she either wont pay the mortgage or buy groceries and electric this month? What about the young couple that, so full of hope when they got married, now have to worry about losing their new home that was such a part of their young dreams?

Maybe we should kill all the politicians and hire oil company execs and drug company czars to fill their places? You know, cut out the middle man. They could in turn, hire bank execs and foreign investors to fill any remaining posts. I have no problem with a free-market economy, but this is ridiculous. At the first sign of a politician selling out or being pressured by MONEY, they should be removed from office. At the very least. There's a BIG difference between someone making a profit at what they do and a gargantuan company bullying and buying their way into being a vast empire, so large it literally takes an army of employees to run it. They buy and sell politicians so efficiently, they should probably diversify into illicit drugs and prostitutes.

Again, I havent covered NEAR the amount of subject matter these issues require. In the name of space and your patience, I have attempted to whet your appetite, or at least make you stop and think about what's going on. Tax and spend, reduce government, add more government, cut taxes, raise taxes, it's all a game. Our tax system is an absolute fraud. There are probably a dozen solutions, but I'm not really qualified to suggest anything. Or am I? I HAVE suggested everyone paying an equal portion of their earnings, no breaks for giant, lying corporations or anything like that. A sort-of FLAT tax. Hmm.

There is hope, though. In a few billion years, us and the earth wont be here anymore. Well, in the short term, I wonder if the people are REALLY as apathetic as I make them out to be. Are we going to continue taking all the graft and corruption, even though it is continually ferretted out(even if its a little bit at a time) and let the many control the few? Are we going to allow a slow dissolution of everything our forefathers held dear for the gain of a sackfull of coin? Our hearts usually tell us what to do, our heads and wallets control the rest.

Every day I hope to see a glimmer or a growing faction of similarly distressed folk wanting to or starting to, affect a change. I would go so far some days as to say I would welcome revolution, but no noble endeavour such as our founders undertook will happen. Any hint of rebellion or strife would result in anarchy. Too many small-minded people would think only of the now, not of the future. We would soon descend into warring factions, raping, pillaging, looting, murdering at leisure. Sounds kinda like wall street, doesnt it?

In all seriousness, I would welcome a dramatic and far-reaching restructuring of our system. I will NEVER understand why we sit back and let politicians sugar coat and lie about their positions on important issues, elect them and then bitch about them putting the screws to us by voting for anything that benefits their money or that of their lobbyists. We may have it better than some countries but I dont know which ones. Probably China, Russia and most of Africa and the Middle East. I guess we have better health care.... that few can afford. We have more to choose from to eat...that's processed, greasy, salty, sugary and causes diseases that require expensive drugs and health care....that few can afford. After all, eating healthy and working hard are respectively expensive and, well, hard.

We DO have freedom of speech, unless you offend someone or piss off the wrong politician or rich person. We can buy a big screen t.v. cheaper than we can buy our kids a good, private education.

Hope and Change? Not for me brothers and sisters. While we still have the freedom to do it, I will keep doing my own thing, trying not to buy any more frivolous things than necessary, growing and hunting things to fill in where we're trying not to buy from giant chain-stores.

Now, I will leave you to your thoughts as I have a bowl of whipped cream covered white house cherry ice cream in front of me and our ginormous t.v. is blaring a cherished Simpsons episode....Hey, a guy's gotta have his standards.